It’s my pleasure to introduce myself to you all! I’m Amanda Eckert (she/her/hers), the new Education Director here at Hebrew Education Alliance. I come to HEA with ten years of education experience and working within communities. Teach for America brought me to Colorado from New York, where I was a Special Education team lead for many years in Denver Public Schools. For the past five years, I’ve led the Girl Scout of Colorado program team by developing new ways to engage young people. I’m very active in the Denver improv theaters, including performing, teaching, and leading their educational school. I also come with a lifetime of Jewish values, identity, practices, and love. As I write this, I am finishing my third week at HEA. In these short weeks, we’ve successfully launched Religious and Hebrew School, hired new instructors, led teacher training, started planning youth programs, and so much more. Who said that slow and steady wins the race?
You may want to know what my educational philosophy is and what my goals are for the HEA Education Department. Rooted in Jewish values, I come from the belief that learning happens by doing, the need to engage creative opportunities for youth to learn, and building a conscious community in the classroom. My goals for this year are to evaluate what is currently working at our school and identity the gaps we want to fill. I will be creating data-driven strategies to allow for meaningful and community lead conversations on how to improve our program opportunities. I’m excited to bring authentic and fun multi-culture programs to HEA through my equity and community partnerships skills.
They say it takes a village to support a child. I say it takes a tribe! What we do, doesn’t happen in a vacuum. What we do, doesn’t stop at the classroom. What we do happens because of the larger community and environment we welcome young people to. The HEA community exemplifies how we show importance and joy in Jewish life and that it is a lifetime journey. Even if you are not active in our school, I greatly appreciate the larger community that welcomes everyone and models the values we want to teach kids.
I’m really excited to be a part of the HEA family and look forward to connecting with you all! Feel free to reach out to me directly at Amanda@HEAdenver.org.
